BLACKSBURG, Va. - The Virginia Tech men's soccer team will host eight matches, including four Atlantic Coast Conference contests, in the upcoming 2006 season. The regular-season slate features eight contests against 2005 NCAA Tournament competition while both preseason matches will also come against NCAA Tournament competitors.

"Again, we are playing a terrific schedule and are looking forward to the challenges in our ACC and non-conference matches," head coach Oliver Weiss said.

Tech will participate in two preseason exhibition matches. On Aug. 17, the Hokies will travel to Morgantown, W. Va., to face the West Virginia Mountaineers at 5 p.m. Tech's lone preseason home match will come against Old Dominion on Saturday, Aug. 19, at 7 p.m.

After opening the season with three straight matches on the road, the Hokies will begin the home portion of their schedule against William & Mary on Sept. 5. Tech will kick off the season at Navy on Aug. 25 before facing UMBC on the 27th. The Hokies travel to Jamaica, N.Y., on Sept. 1 to face former BIG EAST competitor, St. John's.

"We'll be on the road for the first part of the season and that will be tough, but we feel it will give us experience for our first two ACC games of the year which are both on the road," Weiss said. "Going to Baltimore and New York City hopefully will get us ready for Boston and Durham."

Tech's home opener against William & Mary will be the only men's soccer contest played at the Virginia Tech Soccer Stadium until Sept. 15 since the first two ACC matches are away from Blacksburg. On Sept. 8 Tech will face Boston College before traveling to Durham, N.C., to take on Duke in a mid-week contest.

The Hokies play host to Wake Forest on Friday, Sept. 15 for their home ACC opener. The team will then travel to Richmond, Va., where it will take on the Richmond Spiders on VCU's field. The Hokies host their next two contests - against VMI and North Carolina - on Sept. 22 and 29.

The "Battle for the Rock" will be played on Oct. 3 against neighboring Radford on the Highlanders' field. After four days to prepare, Tech will travel to Raleigh, N.C., to take on ACC foe NC State.

On Oct. 11, Tech hosts Elon. The Hokies then host Clemson on Oct. 14. It will be the first time that the Tigers have played on Tech's home field since the 2003 NCAA Tournament first-round match that saw the Hokies advance on penalty kicks. In 2005, Clemson advanced to the NCAA national semifinals.

"I am equally excited about our eight home games this year," Weiss said. "We have four ACC matches set up on three Friday nights - against Wake Forest, North Carolina and Virginia, and a Saturday night game against Clemson. These games should be electrifying, especially when we get the crowds back that we had last year when we almost averaged 900 folks per game. With our enlarged soccer stadium (2028 seats), more people can find a seat as we struggled to accommodate fans in year's past. Whenever our fans come out and pack the place, we have had a great showing. I think we can do that again."

A road trip to Davidson will be the last non-conference away match of the season for Tech on Oct. 17. The last two matches of the season for the Hokies will be played in the friendly confines of the Virginia Tech Soccer Stadium. In a 7:30 p.m., contest on Friday, Oct. 20, Tech hosts in-state and conference-rival Virginia. The Hokies have won the last two meetings with the Cavaliers. Tech will have its last regular-season home match against the Mountaineers of Appalachian State on Oct. 24.

"Our schedule may even be a little tougher than last year's brutal schedule as we have more games on the road in 2006," Weiss said. "Our opponents have improved, both in the conference and outside the ACC. We'll need to take one game at a time and play as well as we possibly can if we want to be involved at the end of the year again."

The Hokies and defending national champion Maryland Terrapins will hook up for the regular-season finale on Friday, Oct. 27, before preparing for the ACC Tournament from Oct. 31-Nov. 5, in Germantown, Md.